Swat A Flys Guide to Staying Alive Review

Swat: A Fly's Guide to Staying Alive
by Mike Barfield

Reviewed by Natasha Kolb

If I could have commissioned an author to write a book specifically to encourage my 'reluctant reader' 8 year old son to read, then this is exactly what I would have asked for!

Swat, A Fly's Guide to Staying Alive is so cleverly written. Its layout is similar to comic strips and its content is very comical, however it's actually a factual and informative book all about flies and other fascinating insects!

The 'story' is set showing Buzzter struggling for survival and seeking advice from Professor Hector Halfbottle. The advice he is given depicts all the terrifying hazards he is to avoid including the threat from bug eating plants, praying mantis' and even scary humans!

Each page shows plenty of fun comic like illustrations and is packed full of information! The words are mainly written onto illustrations such as plant pots, signs or in speech bubbles and as labels. This style very much appealed to my son and made readings whole book far more interesting for him.

We particularly liked the clever little extras such as the contents page actually being a list of pages to avoid if you are easily scared and the 'BINdex' at the end!

It is so hard to find a book that my son is willing to read but this certainly did the job. He loves general knowledge books and this had the bonus of being written in such a child friendly way that he found so much fun to read!

With a RRP of just £6.99, this paperback book would make a great gift particularly for boys given the insect theme!

This gets a very easy 5 out of 5 from us and I will now be searching for other books by Mike Barfield! Hopefully he's helped to finally make a reader out of my boy!

Rating: 5/5

Swat: A Fly's Guide to Staying Alive is available to buy from Amazon here.